Saturday's letters

I read with interest your Sunday editorial on possible uses for the Quay property ("Question on the Quay"), but feel that a couple of exceptional opportunities were left out.

For both the privately owned Quay property and the adjacent city-owned land, a mini-solar farm would be a great choice. The city and Sarasota County tout their commitment to sustainability, but officials have done little to advance that goal in recent years. (In fact, endless capitulation to developers has actually led us in the opposite direction.) Here is a chance for local politicians to put their money where their mouths are.

A solar farm also makes increasingly good sense economically, with solar panel costs down significantly, substantial federal tax credits and FPL's stated commitment to renewables. FPL may even be willing to do some cost sharing.

Another option for the city-owned portion is the hub of a bike-share program. This relatively new concept has taken Europe by storm and is now being adopted by many of the more progressive U.S. cities and towns.

Simply installing more businesses at the Quay site, where there have been repeated failures before, is dubious from a business standpoint, and potentially nightmarish from a traffic standpoint. Traffic at that location is bad now and would become horrific if these businesses were successful.

Instead, we could make a powerful statement and be a tangible part of the solution to climate change and rising sea levels.

Peter Burkard

Sarasota

A redistricting lesson

It's really nice that our state legislators (and perhaps even the governor) finally have learned that there's a price to pay for circumventing the will of the electorate ("Judge asks for a new congressional map," Herald-Tribune Aug. 2).

It's unfortunate, however, that this lesson came at the hands of a circuit judge instead of from the ballot box. Remember this when it comes time to vote. If you feel that the officials you elected to serve your interests have been serving others' interests, or their own, instead, vote them out of office.

Nairn' B. Gillet

Sarasota

Hamas' deadly strategy

The world just stood by and said nothing when Hamas launched thousands of rockets aimed at innocent Israeli citizens. Hamas deliberately committed such attacks, knowing that any Israeli military ground/air response would result in a great imbalance in civilian casualties in densely populated Gaza and that the world would then condemn Israel.

Hamas' strategy has worked. TV coverage starkly revealed that Hamas has done nothing to protect its civilian population. Not only has Hamas done nothing, but it stored its rockets in homes, schools and other civilian buildings and launched them from densely populated areas.

Hamas is guilty of using its civilian population as human shields, with the result of heavy civilian casualties, and Israel is now being condemned as a deliberate killer of civilians.

The question is, should any country be condemned for taking military ground/air action against an attacker, in response to constant attacks, because the action could not help but result in a horrific imbalance of civilian casualties on the attacker's side?

David A. Rosenberg

Sarasota

Blockade is necessary

The Wednesday letter "Lift the Gaza blockade" overlooks the fact that for years merchant ships brought in rockets from Iran and elsewhere, along with food and other goods.

The blockade was a result of years of rockets being launched at Israel. The blockade delayed shipments of imported goods, but had a purpose. Does the letter writer want to make it easier to import rockets?

The only way to remove the blockade is for Hamas to remove the destruction of Israel from its charter, which was written before the blockade; to stop wastefully burning money with each rocket it throws; and to use its resources to build useful infrastructure in Gaza, not tunnels, etc.

Grievances should be handled through courts and international law.

Ronald Brown

Sarasota

Palmetto athletes win praise, even in defeat

I wanted to let the people of Palmetto know how well you were represented by the 10- and 11-year-old girls, their coaches and parents who participated in the softball tournament in Hedgesville, West Virginia, last weekend.

All-around, they were just a wonderful group of adults and girls who would make any league proud. Not only did the girls show great sportsmanship and manners, but they were ladies when they lost in the final game of the weekend after winning three in a row.

Many people here feel like we have many new friends in Palmetto. My 6-year-old granddaughter cried after learning that her new friends had to go back to Florida.

One of the kind gestures that we will never forget is that they put together a nice gift bag for the brother of one of our players who was very recently diagnosed with leukemia. The Palmetto group took the time and effort to do something so nice for a 9-year-old little boy that they don't even know. I just cannot express what an impression your team, coaches and parents made on everyone here.

In this day when many young people are disrespectful and unappreciative, you can be proud of the young ladies on your team. Good things come to good people and I expect that this young team will only be more successful as they get older. Even though they came in as runners-up in the tournament, these girls and coaches are certainly winners.